“They took the expander out and they did an implant and they fixed this one,” O’Neal said of her recent surgery. “So I think God just gave me double for my trouble. Because for everything that I’ve gone through, it was a silver lining behind that.”

After surgery, she says friends were amazed by her seemingly quick recovery.

“Everybody was calling. They were like ‘You just had surgery!’ … ‘Your voice is strong,'” she recalled.

O’Neal & Stone on the day of her reconstructive surgery

It’s that strength that O’Neal takes to others. She said recently, she was able to encourage a co-worker whose wife has Stage 0 breast cancer.

“He was able to talk to someone else about what his wife was going through,” O’Neal said.

The survivor says she knows support is key. O’Neal has been surrounded by a good supporting cast of her family, church, co-workers and best friend, Tammy Stone.

“We focus on our laughter. We laugh, we smile, we look at things that make us happy,” Stone said.

“If you’ve got that continual somebody saying ‘You gonna make it, you gonna make it,’ it’s okay,” O’Neal said, adding, “You’ll make it. It’s all about your mind and how you think about your well being.”

The survivor says she’s glad to be alive to be able to share her story.

As for her co-worker’s wife, O’Neal tells News 3 she had a lumpectomy and is doing well.